


Ends and Means

by Rogue_Bard



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:27:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29404800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogue_Bard/pseuds/Rogue_Bard
Summary: Veth never set out to be the mom-friend, but sometimes it just happens. (Set at the end of Ep 125, so spoilers)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	Ends and Means

**Author's Note:**

> The brief time that Veth's parents came up I feel like it was implied they are still alive, so I'm running with that.   
> Beau's plot the other night hit me right in the feels, and I wanted more conversation about it than we got, so here I am.

Everyone else seemed to be bedding down for the night. Veth knew she needed to sleep, but for the moment the experience with the dagger had left her feeling so unsettled that she knew she wouldn’t find relaxation yet no matter how she tried. Padding over to the window seat, she sat to one side of it and looked out over the darkened city. Amid the other sounds of tossing and turning as the rest of the Nein tried to get comfortable, Veth picked out a few light footsteps, and turned to find Beau making her way over to join her at the window.

“Hey Veth,” she said, quietly so as not to disturb their companions. “You’re sure you’re okay? I mean I know Jes fixed you up, but…” Beau trailed off, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment. Normally Veth would have loved to poke at Beau a bit more, just to see her squirm. But today had been a lot, and she’d actually wanted to have a conversation with the monk, even if she hadn’t thought to do it quite so soon.

“I’m okay. Feeling kind of stupid, but I’ll be fine. I actually wanted to ask you the same thing.” Veth said, with an eyebrow raised in inquiry.

“What me? Of course I’m fine, and I’ll be even better once we sleep, but Cad had healed me up well enough before we started popping all over the continent.” Beau gave a short laugh, but it still felt a bit off, so Veth pressed on.

“Not like that. With what you said earlier. With Zeenoth.” Veth let the comment stand, seeing where Beau would take it. And sure enough, her discomfort visibly increased.

“I mean, it’s like I told them. With everything we’re doing, who knows where we’ll be in two months. Seems like a stupid thing to get worked up about, after all this time. And it all worked out for the best,” Beau said, toying with her vestments and avoiding Veth’s eyes.

“You keep saying that like it matters,” Veth said, and sure enough, it startled Beau into meeting her gaze.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked defensively.

“You know, even if I were to walk away from the Nein right now, I’ve probably got enough money to provide for my family for the rest of our lives,” Veth said, instead of answering. “I’ve got the skills to continue supporting them, or to support my husband in his work. I can do magic. By any metric you choose I’m better off now than I was five years ago.” Now sure looked hard at Beau, making sure to hold her gaze as she asked, “Does that mean what the goblins did was right?” Beau immediately looked away.

“Now hang on, Veth. That’s not fair! It’s not the same thing at all!” Beau protested, adjusting her tone back to a whisper when her first words came out loud enough to cause Caleb to stir restlessly.

“You’re right. It’s not the same thing,” Veth replied. “It’s not the same because I was a grown woman when the goblins took us. I had my place in the world, and I was sure of myself. And the goblins were never people I was supposed to be able to trust.” Veth took Beau’s silence as an invitation to continue.

“I did what I did to protect my son. Because that’s what parents are supposed to do, Beau. That’s what adults are supposed to do.” She held up her hand to stop the other woman’s protests. “I get that you were an asshole. Believe me, I’ve met asshole-you, and I know dealing with you isn’t always fun.” Beau’s face fell slightly at her words, and a part of Veth said that she should stop, should let someone who was better at this do the talking. But no, she’d started this, and she was going to get her piece said.

“I get that you were an asshole, but Beau, _that doesn’t matter_. When Yezzy and I had Luc, we didn’t get a paper that said ‘yeah, we’re signing up for a kid, but only on the days when he’s a ray of sunshine’. That’s not how being a parent works. And maybe I’m the only one here who can tell you this, because I get the feeling that I’m the only one who had really _normal_ parents. But my mom and dad? We fought! Especially when I was a teenager. We fought about stupid stuff and we fought about important stuff, and sometimes we didn’t talk to each other for days. And I have brothers, and they got into trouble sometimes. One of them even stole some things from shops in town, which was incredibly embarrassing to my parents, because Felderwin is freaking tiny, and everyone knows each other. And of course it hurt my mom, when people were gossiping that she’d raised a thief.” At this Veth smirked, “Not that they really knew the half of it, back then. But the point is, the point is that they stayed our parents! They didn’t opt out when things got hard. Because when someone does that, it’s wrong.” Veth leaned forward and squeezed Beau’s hand, her scary, eye-covered hand, between both of her own.

“You found a place in the world. You’ve done amazing things, and you’ll do more still. But it is in spite of what your father and Zeenoth did to you, not because of it. They don’t get credit for your success, not when they were willing to write you off as a failure when you were still a fucking teenager,” Veth said, anger lacing her whispers.

Beau was looking at her with wide, surprised eyes, and for a moment she said nothing, and Veth was worried that she’d gotten it wrong. Then Beau took a deep breath, turning her hand so she could squeeze Veth’s.

“Thank you. I- I’ve really started to love being Cobalt Soul, what we stand for, what we do. And I thought what Zeenoth did- that that was just another part of how the Soul runs, so if I was buying into it, I had to accept that, too. Hearing that I don’t- It feels so sudden, you know? And there’s so much else going on. But I hear you. And I- I want you to be right. Not sure if I think you are, yet. But I want you to be.” Beau smiled and gave Veth another squeeze before pulling away and leaning her back against the wall of the window seat.

Veth smiled back, looking out the window a bit longer before sleepiness finally overtook her, and she climbed down to find a place in bed. Drifting off, she began mentally composing a letter to her parents. It had really been too long since she thanked them.


End file.
